BJP candidate list 2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to fight the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from the Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, the seat he currently represents in the Lower House of the Parliament. The announcement came as part of Bhartiya Janata Party's first list of 195 candidates, which was released on Saturday. This is the third time PM Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi.
He secured major victories during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the seat and even surpassed the victory margins of his predecessor and BJP stalwart Murali Manohar Joshi. It is a cliche phrase in Indian politics, that “the road to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh". But, the Bhartiya Janata Party finds no problems in following cliches as they fielded their prime ministerial candidate from the Varanasi seat of Uttar Pradesh in 2014.
Fighting his first Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi was staged against newcomer Arvind Kejriwal, who vowed to crush BJP's ride to power by defeating their prime ministerial candidate in Varanasi. The third candidate was influential Congress leader Ajay Rai. Putting his oratory skills to good use, Narendra Modi stole the show in Varanasi and trounced his rivals with a staggering 56.37 percent vote share.
Similarly, in the 2019 general elections, Narendra Modi was riding strong on the backs of nationalism issues in the backdrop of the Pulwama attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. This time the victory was even bigger as he secured 63.62% vote share to defeat Shalini Yadav of SP and Ajay Rai of Congress. This time the the contest of Varanasi is expected to be more interesting as the Opposition parties have formed an INDIA bloc and as part of a seat-sharing arrangement, the Samajwadi Party
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